Google Analytics: What Every Small Business Owner Needs To Know

If you are a small business owner and you haven’t been using Google Analytics yet, don’t worry you aren’t alone. I get it – there’s a lot of information out there and wading through various reports and statistics doesn’t necessarily sound like a good time. Oh, but it is! Let’s look at why…

What is Google Analytics Anyway?

Google introduced Google Analytics in November of 2005 as a FREE statistics tool for websites to track traffic flow. GA reports tell you who went to your site and what they did when they got there. Pretty interesting, right? Plus, this information is produced in easy to read graphs and charts, making it enjoyable for all levels of tech users.

How Can I Use Google Analytics to Help Me?

Know your audience – Who is coming to your website and how did they get there? Google Analytics can tell you what continent, country, state, and region makes up your audience. There is also a report to tell you where they are coming from- referrals, searches, direct traffic, campaigns, and/or mobile devices.

Improve your content – Now that you know your audience, what are they doing on there? Are they spending more time on a blog post than perusing products? Perhaps people are dropping off right before they buy something because the loading process it too long or they can’t easily find what they are looking for. If you find that the majority of your visitors came from Google searches, what were they typing to find you? Those questions can lead to new content to drive even more visitors to your site.

Set and track goals – Return on investment is a big deal. A really big deal. How do you determine it with a billboard? A print ad? Now, consider that you have a tool to measure your ROI for your web presence. Want to see if redesigning your website increases your quarterly sales? Set goals in Google Analytics and track your progress.

Campaign successfully – It is discouraging to gear up for a marketing campaign only to find it failed with your audience. Track your newsletters, emails, tweets, AdWords, and Facebook. See which medium yields the highest results and use that information to plan your next advertising campaign.

I’m On Board, Now What?

It is still free to use the introductory Google Analytics, and you can create your free business acount here. If you are on WordPress, there are plugins to help you, and we’ve really found this one to be helpful and very easy to use: WordPress plugin. For a great, simple step-by-step guide on everything from getting started to understanding metrics, click here.

Tell me, are you using GA yet? Was this helpful or does it just bring up more questions? Email me your thoughts at jenn@csocially.com and please share if you found it useful.